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Monday, August 13, 2012

Have a Drink on Paul Ryan and the Pundits!

In the same vein as Krugman this morning (see item below), James Fallows at The Atlantic: "One request: I hope that when reporters are writing or talking about Paul Ryan's budget plans and his overall approach, they will rig up some electro-shock device to zap themselves each time they say that Ryan and his thoughts are unusually 'serious' or 'brave.' Clear-edged they are, and useful in defining the issues in the campaign. But they have no edge in 'seriousness' over, say, proposals from Ryan's VP counterpart Joe Biden...

"I'm making a simple plea: examine the Ryan plan, and its Obama counterpart, on their merits, and for the different values they express and interest groups they defend, without pretending that there is some bravery or seriousness gap between them. I also encourage you to snicker discreetly, or if you're in the right setting to start a drinking game, at each pundit occurrence of 'brave' and 'serious.' People who say these things are revealing their non-serious susceptibility to cliche."

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G.M. is the author of more than a dozen books (click on covers above and below), the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher and until recently a daily writer for The Nation. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch